Dr. Greene's Vitamins one way to get extra D

Brett Singer — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:15:00 GMT

One easy way to get the now-doctor-recommended dosage of 400 IUs of Vitamin D per day is to take one of the new Twinlab DrGreene nutritional supplements. I've been giving them to my kids and despite the fact that the tablets are larger than the Flinstones/Spider-Man/High School Musical variety (that last one I made up – I hope), they take them without protest. Dr. Greene, an author and pediatrician, included the higher dosage of D before the new guidelines came out, for what it's worth.

Also in the supplements are Omega-3s, which are really good for you but are not found in many of the foods kids (or adults) eat. NOT in the supplements are preservatives, high fructose corn syrup or unnatural colors and flavors. Dr. Greene is the doc's real name, and also his philosophy. (I admit I was a little suspicious that he changed his name for trendy reasons, but I've been assured that isn't the case.) Even the packaging is made with recycled content. Hey, every little bit helps, right?

If you want to go whole hog, the Twinlab DrGreene line starts Dr. Greene Prenatal and goes through Dr. Greene Children’s Chewable Multivitamin/Multimineral. I met the doctor at an event a few weeks ago (I'm writing up an interview I did with him) and he seemed like a tremendously nice man. He also acknowledged that it would be great if kids got these nutrients from eating food, but since they don't, these supplements are a way to do it. Bottom line: the kids take the vitamins willingly, they appear to have less crap (HFCS, etc.) in them than other kids' vitamins, and the amount of nutrients in them seems to be better than most. Works for me.

image: Amazon.com

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No Antibiotics for You!

Adrienne Martini — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Dr. Alan Greene over at the New York Times Well Blog insists that most earaches don't require antibiotics. He cites the reasons we've all become familiar with -- they are bad for the good bacteria in your body, they are bad for the environment, they are ineffective, etc. But two things leap out at any reader.

First, if parents can't approach an earache with antibiotics, what should they do?

And, second, how freaking cool is it that "a typical healthy child carries a pound or two of rapidly evolving microscopic bacteria in his or her body?" Now that is a fact to know and share.

Photo credit: www.ilovemybaby.org